What started with a drafting table in the basement of a friend's home in 1986 has grown to become Weaver Homes, a family business that now builds about 100 homes a year in Butler County and northern Allegheny County.

“My dad was the vice president of a big commercial contractor, the Mellon Stuart Construction Company. They transferred him from Pittsburgh to Orlando (Fla.) in 1984. In 1986, he decided to move back home and start his own business,” said Chad Weaver, vice president and son of company founders Bill and Bonnie Weaver.

His dad, an architect, designed homes and managed construction while Bonnie, his mother, worked in sales and helped customers select the finishes, materials and fixtures.

“Until 1999-2000 there was just two of us,” said his father and company president Bill Weaver. “We ran the company literally just the two of us.”

It remained a mom and pop operation until 1999 when they hired another sales person.

“We lived with friends while he was starting the business. His first office was a drafting table in the basement of a friend's house,” Chad said.

They lived in the friend's house for only a few months before they bought a 52-acre farm with an old house in Mars, moved into the house and built 17 homes on the property that became the Pine Ridge Farms development.

“That was our first development,” Bonnie said.

Weaver Homes now has 28 employees and is building and selling homes in seven developments with Chad running the day-to-day operations.

Even though Chad, their only child, obtained a degree in construction management and started out working for his parents, he pursued other interests, including piloting airplanes, before he returned to the business a few years later.

“When he got out of college, he worked for us for a few months. He wanted bigger things,” Bill said.

Chad landed a job with a big construction company and worked on the West Coast. Then he went to flight school and became a commercial airline pilot.

“He gave up flying in 2005 and started to work for us, and that's when we really started to grow,” Bill said.

Bill and Bonnie are semi-retired but remain active in the business. Bill said they would have retired and closed the business by now if Chad hadn't stepped in.

Chad, who still flies and owns a small plane, said he relies on lessons he learned from his parents to run the business.

“My parents created a family atmosphere where everybody's opinion is valued. Everybody has the same vision for treating customers and each other, and growth. That's the biggest driver of our success,” Chad said.

Some of the contractors that Weaver employs to build homes have worked for the company since its inception, Bill said.

“We have a real good group of contractors that I consider employees. They're loyal to us,” Chad said.

Sales and marketing employees, a design specialist and project managers were hired as the company grew.

Chad said his father didn't pressure him to join the business and he is taking the same approach with his and his wife Tracey's two sons, Max, 14, and Jack, 11.

“My dad never pressured me and I do the same. I tell them there is a shortage of skilled trade workers. They're great-paying jobs that don't require a college degree, but you still need education through a trade school,” Chad said.

Custom single-family homes used to be the Weavers' bread and butter, and they still build some, but Bill shifted the core of the business to building patio homes that are built on concrete slabs without basements.

“He decided to shift gears and focus on patio homes. It took off like wildfire,” Chad said.

Weaver's first patio home project was Brandywine Village, a 112-unit development built on 66 acres in Connoquenessing Township in 1999.

The company is now selling patio homes in Jackson, Middlesex, Lancaster, Butler and Adams townships in Butler County and single-family homes in Adams Township and Pine Township in Allegheny County.